Last week, their contribution was recognised with the Marsh Volunteer Award 🏆 – a well-deserved thank you celebrating the difference they’ve made.

We’re incredibly grateful for everything they do. Our mass digitisation project simply wouldn’t be what it is without them 💚

Their enthusiasm, teamwork and curiosity have enriched the project! And several of our dedicated volunteers have even gone on to become staff members 🎉

But it’s not just about outputs. Our volunteers support online crowdsourcing, engage the public at events, research specimen stories, share discoveries, and help each other tackle tricky handwriting and data challenges.

Thanks to them, Kew’s Herbarium & Fungarium collections are more accessible for global research – helping scientists, students and communities worldwide.

Their achievements are remarkable:

📸 56,000+ herbarium specimens imaged
🧬 22,000+ plant & fungal records quality-checked
⏱️ ~7,500 volunteer hours contributed

On his famous H.M.S. Beagle voyage, Charles Darwin collected this fungal specimen, which would later be used to describe the new species Daedalea erubescens. It was on this same voyage that Darwin began developing his emerging hypotheses on the theory of evolution and natural selection.

Spot the difference! This Gymnopus foetidus specimen from Madingley Wood is impressively well-preserved and closey resembles its original illustration. It is also one of Kew’s oldest sampled fungal holotypes, having been collected in 1795. That makes this mushroom 230 years old!

Did you know that Kew has the first ever scientifically described shiitake mushroom? Author of the species, the Reverend Berkeley’s 1875 notes on the specimen, show the Japanese name “Shi-taki” and highlight it being “commonly eaten in Japan and exposed for sale in large quantities in shops”.

Together with Benjamin Underwood & David Satori of the mycorrhizal ecology lab, they took root samples to understand more about the process of colonisation by mycorrhizal fungi in these successional areas where grazing prevention is allowing young trees to grow

More on these fungi ow.ly/IqV650XMcxp